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Mistrial in Sucuzhanay Hate Crime Trial

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

A judge has declared a mistrial in the case of the second man charged with a hate crime in the death of Ecuadorean immigrant Jose Sucuzhanay. The jury was deadlocked in the case around 9 p.m. last night after one juror refused to continue deliberations.

Keith Phoenix was accused of beating Sucuzhanay with a baseball bat as he walked arm-in-arm with his brother in Brooklyn in 2008. Prosecutors say Phoenix and co-defendant Hakim Scott targeted them because they thought the brothers were gay.

Scott was convicted in a separate trial last week of manslaughter and attempted assault in the attack, but he was acquitted of hate crime charges.